22nd July 2021 Demna Gvasalia, the Creative Director of Balenciaga, discusses his first Haute Couture collection for the house, and the revival of Balenciaga Haute Couture.
Fifty-three years after the original Balenciaga salon was closed with Cristóbal Balenciaga’s final and 49th show, the company’s Haute Couture has now been revived for Autumn Winter 2021/22 with its 50th collection by Demna and hats by Philip Treacy.
The show was presented on Avenue George V in front of an audience of famous faces, including François-Henri Pinault of the Kering luxury group.
Demna with Suzy in Paris earlier this year
Demna spoke to me about his tough, unsettling early life; the start of his career, working in Antwerp, Belgium, with Martin Margiela; and then his introduction to high-level fashion at Louis Vuitton in Paris.
As if the exceptional story of Cristóbal Balenciaga were not enough, what about Demna Gvasalia’s development as a designer who started his life in war-torn Georgia and is now a highly creative force in Paris fashion today?
He and his brother Guram took a bold course by launching Vetements in 2014. An aggressively anti-high-fashion company, its ‘cheap’ bags and basic clothes emblazoned with the logos of pedestrian companies such as DHL, stunned the fashion world – not least when Demna joined Balenciaga the following year.
In my podcast, the designer discusses his play on the classic with the strange and elegant: massive sneakers worn with evening clothes or Philip Treacy‘s ‘mushroom’ hats. This is what makes Balenciaga unique among its fashion rivals, and makes the return of Haute Couture to a Parisian house all the more dramatic, especially when Christian Dior called Cristóbal “the Master of us all”.
At the age of 40, the designer has channelled his disturbing and ever-changing childhood into the calm of creativity. The idea of bringing back to life the haute couture of a historic brand has proved daring – and smart.
Fendi reconnected with its Roman roots for its Autumn/Winter 2021 Haute Couture collection, in a truly stunning display masterminded by Silvia Venturini Fendi and British designer Kim Jones, Fendi’s Artistic Director of Women’s Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Fur. (He is also the Creative Director of Dior Menswear, so is the artistic force behind two household-name brands at LVMH.)
Silvia and Kim wanted to work together on a film, and where better than at Cinecittà, the legendary Roman film studio known as “Hollywood on the Tiber”? Its hallowed halls have nurtured a long list of famous directors who have changed the course of cinematic history – including Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese – and such beloved films as La Dolce Vita and Roman Holiday.
Luca Guadagnino directed the models on set in Rome via Zoom while he was on location for another film in Ohio
Joining this roll call of Cinecittà’s cinematic greats was Luca Guadagnino, director of I Am Love, A Bigger Splash and Call Me by Your Name, who was commissioned by Silvia and Kim to collaborate with them on their Haute Couture film, while Kate Moss served as narrator. Currently in Ohio working on another project, Guadagnino directed Fendi’s models over Zoom – the future is now! I was invited on set to watch him scrutinise on screen the movements of Moss and her daughter Lila Grace, 18, as well as Christy Turlington, Amber Valletta and Mariacarla Boscono, as they walked with slow grandeur, their dresses sweeping along a set composed of pale-coloured terraces and a backdrop of historic Roman buildings.
Kim wanted Guadagnino to capture the unique spirit of Rome immortalised by Pier Paolo Pasolini, but through a Fendi-inspired lens. “Rome is a fascinating city because it has so many pasts – and I was drawn to Pasolini because I have always been inspired by his vision of the world,” Kim explained. “He is something of an outsider in Roman history, but one whose voice remains constant.”
Amber Valletta models a marble-effect gown for Kim Jones’ collection for Fendi Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2021
“Pasolini observed Rome become modern, and that is what is interesting to me: Connecting eras, the old with the new, the past with the present.”
“I really love this collection and it is nice to have it as a considered, planned film,” Kim said. “I know it will last longer. Fashion is so fast now, especially when you’re on social media. You click through, refresh – and it is history. Fashion should last longer.”
“Rome is not the fashion capital of Italy, but it is the couture capital, so it is nice to celebrate it and bring in the cinema, which Silvia loves so much,” Kim explained. “For the first time, I am working with the family while they are alive, which by all present analysis is very interesting,” Kim said. “I look at the pillars of what the Fendi house stands for – I don’t think about myself and then I work within what the brand is,” he explained of his process. “I have had so much time to reflect in the last year when we were locked in our houses for so long. I did a lot of preparation work and thinking about things.”
“It’s so interesting to hear all the stories about mother and grandmother, and how it’s evolved,” he continued. “It’s very much female-dominated. So I’m listening to all the women in the room when we are working.”
Silvia Venturini Fendi with her daughter, Delfina Delettrez, who designed the jewellery for the collection
Silvia Venturini Fendi was equally enthusiastic about the change in creative direction following the death of Fendi’s previous master couturier, the late Karl Lagerfeld. “It’s exciting to see the evolution of a brand that is almost 100 years old,” Silvia said. “I like to see things with my own eyes, but it is interesting to see how somebody else interprets it. Through Kim, I can see different aspects, so it is exciting.”
As the models glowed like ancient Roman goddesses in their trompe l’oeil embellished dresses, on which Jones managed to suggest the immortal allure of Italian stone, Fendi’s CEO Serge Brunschwig enthused, “We are proud of what we are doing because it is fantastic workmanship and there is all this beauty behind it.”
The other Kim – Kim Kardashian – joined me at the private view. “I am always fascinated by how Kim can work on so many projects that are so different, and how your brain would have to turn on and off,” she said. “He goes from Dior Men’s to this – super-elegant and feminine. I can imagine doing a couture show is a lot of pressure, but it must be great to be so creative.”
Suzy with Kim Kardashian, who flew in from LA to support her friend Kim Jones and watch the action on set
The distinctive jewellery for the collection was designed by Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Silvia’s daughter, on the encouragement of Silvia and Kim.
“This is not high jewellery,” she said. “The preciousness comes not so much from a precious material, but [from the fact that] everything is handmade and unique. I worked with old Italian marble – like you see the statues made of. I did a mosaic both in marble and mother of pearl – which is something which has not been done in jewellery before.”
The last wise words came from Silvia, who worked with Karl Lagerfeld for her entire life. “I think Karl saw me when I was born – he was like a family presence – it was like having a sixth brother after five sisters! It’s really interesting to this new Fendi woman come to life in Kim’s eyes.”
Demna Gvasalia’s powerful collection for Balenciaga opened to a spooky version of Edith Piaf’s ballad, ‘La Vie en Rose’, as a soundtrack. When this song about finding love after trying times was first released at the end of the World War Two, it was adopted as an anthem for hope. Was this Demna’s metaphor for our post-lockdown landscape?
This second instalment of Balenciaga’s partnership with Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele for Spring/Summer 2022, ‘Clones’, was a virtual show in more ways than one. Not only was I watching it online, but I also noticed that hardly anyone in the ‘audience’ – all of whom were dressed top-to-toe in black – was taking pictures. That’s because the show was deep faked, with the same model wearing every outfit on a clinically white runway.
An evening gown from the ‘Clones’ collection by Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga, Spring/Summer 2022
“Technology creates alternative realities and identifies a world of digital clones,” the designer explained when asked about his premise. “Between unedited and altered, genuine and counterfeit, tangible and conceptual, fact and fiction, fake and deep fake.”
The clothes were real, however, and the mood was for pretty patterns but with a tangible sense of toughness. The collection was polished and focused, and seemed to bring Balenciaga back to its Spanish roots but replanted in Paris. It was based on fine cutting and the ability to present men’s and women’s style without a male/female divide.
There were references to last year’s collaboration with Gucci, with Gucci’s double-G monograms becoming double-Bs, and a focus on accessories, especially footwear and graffiti handbags.
The anger seems to have trickled out of the designer’s anarchic spirit, and is now replaced by strength – a vision perhaps best summed up as “sweet and sour”.
Have you ever wondered how clothes end up in shops? Buyers descend on trade fairs once or twice a year to purchase stock to fill their shelves. And it may come as a surprise that not all the clothes come from the runways of Paris and Milan: You’ll see peacock males lining up to display the latest looks in Florence at the historic Fortezza da Basso, where the Pitti Uomo men’s fashion trade fairunderscores that powerful Italian spirit of past and present embodied by this historic city.
Behind this world-renowned trade fair is Raffaello Napoleone, its CEO, who spoke to me about celebrating this year’s 100th edition of Pitti Uomo and shared his thoughts on the post-pandemic landscape for the fashion industry.
Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of PItti Immagine and Italian fashion crusader
To get back into post-Covid action, the premier men’s trade fair will ‘double-track’, with a digital as well as real-life fashion week. The digital platform, Pitti Connect, was founded by the visionary CEO 12 years ago. Napoleone is also the CEO of Pitti Immagine – a not-for-profit Italian organisation to promote the fashion industry and ‘Made in Italy’ marque – and heads up Pitti Bimbo for children; Pitti Filati for yarns; and is one of the founders of the Polimoda Fashion School in Florence, set up with Linda Loppa (former Head of the Fashion Department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp) to help preserve the Italian fashion industry.
In teaching and in fashion, Napoleone always looks to the future, and is excited at how current powerful changes to sustainability are transforming Italy’s attitudes to production and consumption.
Can the physical format of a trade fair and – above all – its interaction with its audience really be revived? Napoleone says “Si!” and has stretched his wings to include trade fairs of artisan perfumes, food, and homewares. They all prove, post-Covid, that growth starts at home.
As she revisits her story, three generations have now worn the wrap dress Diane von Furstenberg invented to project the sensual, dynamic and appealing woman she always wanted to be: “A woman in charge!”
For Episode 6 of Season 4 of the Creative Conversations podcast, she tells me just how many projects she is still developing today while that famous dress that started it all has now achieved 15 million sales.
Her new book, Own It – The Secret to Life (published by Phaidon) – sums up her spirit with its title. To be a feminist and a philanthropist seems like enough already, but DVF, as she is universally known, takes both elements of her life and makes them signs of strength. From supporting American Vice President, Kamala Harris, to a Statue of Liberty museum in New York, the designer has followed the words of her mother, who spent 13 months at Auschwitz. When she recovered, she said to her daughter, “God saved my life so that I can give you life.”
Diane also has projects with her husband, Barry Diller, including the Diller von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Mr. Diller is behind the vision for the brand new floating park and open-air theatre on the Hudson called the Little Island, designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
But above all, the fashion designer-turned-art supporter and fundraiser understands the importance of legacy. She describes it as what we leave behind that others can use. And a last word on the DVF mantra on the subject of packing, since life is a journey. “When we know how to pack, we know how to live – pack lightly, live lightly,” she says.
I hope you enjoy the podcast. Do subscribe and follow – just head to iTunes to rate and review. I do love to read your comments.
Witty, wise and tirelessly energetic, British fashion-accessories designer Anya Hindmarch has always had an open mind and wide-open heart and is happy to share news of her latest enthusiasms.
Anya has taken over an empty, post-pandemic street in London’s Knightsbridge and transformed it into Anya Village, offering the things she loves and believes in – from her famous handbags to sustainably sourced and produced items. Visit Pont Street, SW1 to explore the Anya Café, Salon, Village Hall, and shops.
Suzy with Anya in her Knightsbridge atelier
She has also just published a book, If in Doubt, Wash Your Hair!, which is filled with advice on how to be happy. Her words are profound, defining the character of a woman whose life would be considered quite a challenge, even when she created a business at age 18, returning from Italy carrying a handbag that would change her life.
Five children later – three inherited from her widowed husband and two of their own – Anya continues with her global fashion-accessories business, with dollops of fun along the way and a CBE from the Queen.
Tune in to the podcast for her insights and enthusiasm, and if you enjoy it please do subscribe, rate and review. I do love to read your comments and feedback.
